Dubai, Mar 14 (PTI): Worried over a rise in the numbers of suicides among expatriates, Indian community leaders in Bahrain have demanded urgent steps to check the problem by offering counselling and support services.

At a gathering organised to discuss the problem and its causes, the community members said the rising numbers of suicides in the country should be a matter of concern that warranted immediate intervention, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News.

The alarm bell were sounded by reports that as many as seven Indians had committed suicides in Bahrain in the last few weeks alone.

Sovichen Chennattusserry, who organised the gathering and initiated discussions, said he is concerned that nine people had committed suicide in the last few weeks.
"A majority of them (seven) are Indians and all of them have left behind broken, shattered families," he was quoted as saying.

Chennattusserry said they need the support of the media and the community leaders.

Salmaniya Medical Complex Accident and Emergency department chief resident, P V Cheriyan, said that though the number of deaths resulting from suicide attempts were small, the number of such attempts had been increasing.

"We get scores of cases from all sections, including teenagers, who have attempted suicide. We deal with these cases according to a set protocol," he said, adding that awareness was the key in helping tackle the problem.

The discussions suggested that teams should regularly visit labour camps and create awareness among the people on how they should deal with stress, which usually leads them to taking the extreme step.

He said financial problems, chronic illnesses and people's inability to deal with them lead to suicidal tendencies.

Babu Ramachandran, a senior physician at the local American Mission Hospital, said there should be an 'always available' helpline to counsel people individually and awareness should also be spread through the media and in schools.

Veteran community leader Vani Krishnan said she believed extra-marital affairs were a leading cause of stress and, as a result, suicides.

"These people are unable to deal with the guilt and take the extreme step," she said.
An Art of Living volunteer also offered to provide counselling and follow-up services to the most vulnerable people.